Pioneering Women of Bluegrass

Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 21, 1996)
• Original Release Date: May 21, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Smithsonian Folkways
• ASIN: B000001DJ7
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,992 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #63 in Music > World Music > North America > Appalachian
  • #89 in Music > Country > Classic Country > Old-Time Country

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Before these 1960s recordings were made, the impact of women on bluegrass was virtually non-existent. Molly O'Day and Wilma Lee Cooper had forged some success, but Hazel and Alice were more interested in the dual harmonies of the Stanley Brothers. The pair's unrefined, passionate, seamlessly intertwined harmonies leave a lasting impression, and their sound often owes more to traditional country than bluegrass. Supported by mandolinist David Grisman and fiddle legend Chubby Wise, the pair attack the songs of Bill Monroe, the Carter Family, the Stanleys, Delmores, and Louvins with fire and conviction. Dickens originals such as "Won't You Come and Sing for Me," with four-part harmonies, and the playful "Cowboy Jim" display her deft songwriting touch while her raw mountain tenor rivals that of Ralph Stanley. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description

When Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard recorded these songs in the mid-1960s, bluegrass music was dominated by male performers. They selected their favorite songs and arranged them for a stellar group of sidemen—bluegrass legends Lamar Grier, Chubby Wise, David Grisman, and Billy Baker. Their widely admired performances made them role models for future generations of women in bluegrass. The 26 tracks have been remastered, resequenced, and newly annotated by the performers themselves. Includes Long Black Veil, The One I Love Is Gone, and I Hear a Sweet Voice Calling. "Hazel and Alice blast out vintage bluegrass-country soundsongs with fierce, raucous energy." –Time Magazine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, April 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pioneering Women of Bluegrass (Audio CD)

Hazel and Alice are legendary. The song The One I Love Is Gone alone is worth the price of the CD. It was written and given to them by Bill Monroe, who then taught them how to sing harmony in a minor key. Hazel's voice is one of the most truthful and powerful in bluegrass.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars if you have ears get this cd, June 1, 2002

By 

Tony Thomas (SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pioneering Women of Bluegrass (Audio CD)

I bought the two records that these were made of when they came out in the 60s and 70s. I was lucky enough to hear Hazel and Alice a few times back then, and later in the 70s, separately. There is nothing else like it, particularly Hazel's voice, oh haze's voice.
I still have chills up my spine like my buddy from Ohio Tribe, from hearing Hazel sing the Coal Minter's blues at a school auditorium in Birmingham in 1979. There is something about most bluegrass today that is either too slick, to pyrotechnically technically proficient, and just too damned unaccessable to the average person.
This is living room music, a place where Hazel and Alice started playing together back in the early 1960s in the DC-Baltimore area/ There may be great professionals like Chubby wise who played with Billie Monroe and then left to work for Flat and Scruggs, but this is friendly picking music and signing closer in spirit to old timey music than to much of current bluegrass. Alice was then married to Mike Seeger who spent much of the 1950s recording old time blues and country pickers on their front porches and living rooms, and some of that is passed on here.
These records were also made when they and I were young and their is a streak of wildness in some of these tunes (Cowboy Jim, the most unuptown version of Take Me Back to Tulsa ever recorded) that seems to have melted away with age.
Al I can say is Hazel Dickens Hazel Dickens Alice Gerrad alice Gerrad they rule

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a beautiful CD., April 28, 2001

By 

Tribe (Toledo, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pioneering Women of Bluegrass (Audio CD)

Hazel Dickens sends shivers down my spine with her amazing "high lonesome" singing. Who ever came up with the nonsense notion that women can't do bluegrass? This has to be one of the top ten bluegrass collections ever. Hazel & Alice simply rock. Their version of "Long Black Veil" is THE standard against which all other versions of this song have to stand up against. Life is not the same after hearing this album.